1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to portable terminals. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus that generates a multicast group using a phone book and multicasts messages using the multicast group.
2. Description of the Related Art
Portable terminals provide users with convenient portability. They can store a variety of application programs and a plurality of play-back files. In addition, since they have additional applicability, they are employed in various areas.
More particularly, a message service for portable terminals can be effective, although the portable terminals are located in out of service coverage area. In addition, such a message service can be also effective to transmit a simple message.
A conventional message service may be a Short Message Service (SMS) where a short text message of up to 80 bytes can be transmitted and a Multimedia Message Service (MMS) where a text message attaching at least one of a picture and moving images can be transmitted. Such a message service allows a single caller to multicast the same message to a plurality of recipients, simultaneously.
However, the conventional message service is disadvantageous in that, when a user multicasts a message using his/her portable terminal, he/she must directly and respectively input recipients' phone numbers. Although the conventional message service allows a user to use a multicast number, it is still disadvantageous in that the user must subscribe to a communication service company providing a multicast number service in order to acquire a corresponding number and make a call to the company to designate recipients.